Four sentences you can already write, four little words in front of them, and suddenly you can tell somebody your whole day. Twenty-four cards, a quiz in three tiers and four workshop activities cover the order words, the parts of the day, the days of the week, and the one place a verb goes back to its plain form.
Four sentences you can already write. Desayuno. Voy a la escuela. Como con mis amigos. Hago la tarea. All true, and in no particular order.
Those little words are primero (first), luego and después (then, after that), and por fin or al final (finally). They are the cheapest thing you will ever learn in Spanish, because they cost you nothing: you already had every sentence. Put one in front and four separate facts turn into somebody’s morning. Every story you tell for the rest of your life in this language is built out of sentences you can already write, held together by words like these.
Two things people get wrong
⚠️People often think…
Days of the week start with a capital letter, and you need a word for ‘on’ — on Monday.
Spanish writes lunes, martes, miércoles with small letters, and so are the months: enero, febrero. And there is no word for on at all — the el does that job. El lunes means on Monday. Los lunes, with the plural, means every Monday. One little word carries what English needs two for.
lunes, small letter. El lunes = on Monday. Los lunes = every Monday.
⚠️People often think…
After I eat is después de como, because como means I eat.
After de, the verb goes back to its plain form — the one that still has its -ar, -er or -ir on the end. Después de comer. Antes de ir a la escuela. Nothing gets a person’s ending, because the de is already holding the sentence together and the verb has no work left to do. English does the same thing with -ing: after eating, not after I eat.
After antes de and después de, the verb keeps its -ar, -er or -ir.
Build a day out of sentences you have
1Watch one
Two facts: Desayuno a las siete. Voy a la escuela a las ocho. Join them into one ordered morning.
Decide which really happens first. Seven comes before eight, so desayuno leads.
Put primero in front of it: Primero desayuno a las siete.
The second one takes luego or después: Luego voy a la escuela a las ocho.
Check the verbs. Desayuno and voy are exactly what they were. The order word changed nothing.
Primero desayuno a las siete. Luego voy a la escuela a las ocho. ✓ Two facts became a morning, and you wrote no new Spanish at all.
2Do one with me
Fill in the three boxes.
The word for ‘first’ is
Write ‘on Monday’ in Spanish — two words
Finish this: Después de ____ (to eat), hago la tarea.
💬One sentence, then you move on
Primero, luego and por fin do not change a single verb. So what work are they actually doing?
3Try one
Write the last step of a day, in Spanish, using por fin and the verb ceno (I have dinner).
I want a hint first
Order word first, then the sentence you already had. Por fin + ceno. Nothing else has to happen.
💬Last one — then you’re done here
You have now finished four rooms: a whole thought, soy and estoy, the question words, and this one. Which of the four do you reach for most when you actually try to say something?
Where this goes
Where this lives
Every time anybody asks you what you did today. A day, a recipe, a set of directions, the plot of a film — all of them are ordinary sentences with order words holding them in place.
What this feeds
This is the last room of grades 3–5. Grades 6–8 open with the whole system — the present tense in full, the past tenses, and the words that join one idea to another. You arrive there already able to say a whole day.
Write your own day in four Spanish sentences, each one starting with a different order word. Then read it aloud to somebody.
One card at a time — tap “Show me” to check yourself, then Next. Start at Foundation; when those feel easy, climb.
Helpful Hints
🧭 The unit in one line
You already have the sentences → put primero, luego, después or por fin in front of one and nothing inside it changes → por la mañana, por la tarde and por la noche name the three stretches of a day → days and months are written in small letters, el lunes means on Monday and los lunes means every Monday → and the one place a verb goes back to comer or ir is after antes de and después de.
The sentence you already had, with one word in front.
🔑 The one idea
Everything else you have learned this year changed something. Plurals changed two words at once. Ser and estar made you choose. Question words moved the verb. Order words change nothing at all — and they are the ones that let you tell a story. Four separate true sentences are not a day; four sentences with primero, luego, después and por fin in front of them are. What you gained is not more grammar. It is the shape that holds grammar you already had.
⚠️ Traps to avoid
Days and months are NOT capitalized in Spanish: lunes, enero. Neither are languages: español.
En lunes is wrong. On Monday is el lunes — there is no Spanish word for on here.
Los lunes does not mean the Mondays. It means EVERY Monday — the plural makes it a habit.
Después de como is wrong. After de the verb keeps its -ar, -er or -ir: después de comer.
Mañana alone means tomorrow; la mañana means the morning. The la is doing the work.
A las is for every hour except one o’clock, which is a la una. That is the only exception on the clock.
Los fines de semana, not los fin de semanas. Only the first word takes the -s.
📐 The word, the job, the example
Word
What it does
Example
In English
['primero', 'primero']
['first step', 'primer paso']
Primero desayuno.
First I have breakfast.
['luego', 'luego']
['next step', 'paso siguiente']
Luego voy a la escuela.
Then I go to school.
['después', 'después']
['next step', 'paso siguiente']
Después como con mis amigos.
After that I eat with my friends.
['entonces', 'entonces']
['next, and because', 'siguiente, y porque']
Tengo hambre; entonces como.
I am hungry, so I eat.
['por fin', 'por fin']
['last step', 'último paso']
Por fin ceno.
Finally I have dinner.
['por la mañana', 'por la mañana']
['a stretch of day', 'un pedazo del día']
Por la mañana estudio.
In the morning I study.
['el lunes', 'el lunes']
['one named day', 'un día concreto']
El lunes voy al médico.
On Monday I go to the doctor.
['los lunes', 'los lunes']
['every one of them', 'todos ellos']
Los lunes tengo música.
Every Monday I have music.
['a las ocho', 'a las ocho']
['a clock time', 'una hora']
Ceno a las ocho.
I have dinner at eight.
['en enero', 'en enero']
['a month', 'un mes']
En enero hace frío.
In January it is cold.
['después de comer', 'después de comer']
['plain verb after de', 'verbo sencillo tras de']
Después de comer, juego.
After eating, I play.
🎯 How you will be asked
“Put this day in order.” — with the clock times and the order words as your evidence.
“Write your own day in four sentences, each with a different order word.”
“El lunes or los lunes?” — one day, or every one of them.
“Después de ____ — which form of the verb?”
“Which part of the day does this belong to?” — mañana, tarde or noche.
✅ Before the test, can you…
Name four order words and use each one in a sentence about your own day?
Write the seven days of the week the way Spanish writes them?
Say the difference between el lunes and los lunes?
Finish después de ____ and antes de ____ with the right form of a verb?
Tell somebody your whole day out loud, in order, without stopping?
📚 Go to the sources
These open another website and need the internet. In the first one, look up después and read the example sentences — watch how every single verb after de is sitting in its plain form, and you will never write después de como again.
Look back at anything you missed — the hint that appeared is exactly what to reread tonight.
How sure did you feel?
Workshop
Put a shuffled day back in order, sort twelve activities into morning, afternoon and night, label the little words that introduce a day, a month, a clock time and a habit, and then argue that you can already tell somebody your whole day.
Your practice never leaves this device. There is no account and no sign-in. Your work is saved in this browser only, and you can erase it whenever you want.
Your practice record — saved on this device
This is your record of the module on screen — it stays here and goes nowhere. Independent means you got it right on the first tap; supported means you got it after the explain-and-retry, or marked ‘I had it’ on a revealed answer. Both count, and neither is a grade. If your teacher asks, copy the row or show them this screen.
Date
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Topic
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Level
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Independent
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Supported
0 of 0
Hints used
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Cards studied
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Lab
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Traps met
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Explained in own words
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Confidence
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The answer key is for a teacher: it prints only from here, for the unit on screen. Print the study packet prints the study pages and a blank quiz — never the answers.